


On the Weight of Stone

by Brightmorrow



Series: Enter the Tanglewood [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Lady Knights, Lesbians, Original Characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23405095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brightmorrow/pseuds/Brightmorrow
Summary: In introduction to one Helaine of House Brightmorrow, Champion of the Crown.
Series: Enter the Tanglewood [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683643
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	On the Weight of Stone

Helaine of House Brightmorrow, Descendent of the Great Light, Champion of the Crown, Winner of the 128th Annual County-Wide Apple-Eating Contest, knew the weight of three things very intimately. 

The first was that of her armor, heavy on her shoulders and her back, the exact alloy unknown. It was a master work of some importance her Aunt Clara had commissioned for her twenty-fifth birthday. It gleamed under the sun and the moon, and a large gold star dressed the front plate. It protected her, encased her, marked her as ready for battle - in a word, it was exquisite. But it was heavy.

The second was the heft of her sword, Lux, which had become her constant companion. It was magical, a weapon from a bygone time when wizards and enchanters worked with the Crown rather than against it. Sometimes she felt very much like it spoke to her, in its own way, guiding her hand through the killing blows and rewarding her when the work was done. Sometimes she talked back.

The third, and most horrible, was the weight of any given beast’s head in a sack. By her twenty-seventh year, she had slain so many - goblins, kobolds, harpies, gargoyles, even, notably, a hydra - that she knew the exact weight a head would have just by looking at it, and could quickly figure how many heads her horse Batton could carry before he wrinkled his nose and turned away from her, reins or no reins. 

She knew the weight of all these things as well as she knew the scars on her hands, or the way her right ankle ached when it rained, and together this knowledge weighed on her as heavily as stones packed into a dead man’s pockets. 

But by far the worst, heaviest, most egregious knowledge was this: that someday very soon she would be married, and her adventuring days would be gone. 

It was with this thought in mind that Helaine woke on the third day of her Ease, and realized that she must run away. 


End file.
